Youtou Shinnoken
A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction by Chester Castañeda
Original Concept by Chad Yang
Want to see minor spoilers for Rurouni Yahiko? Just keep on reading.
Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, and St. Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki and Sony. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Chapter 23: Freckles (Part 5)
Back in the broad, tree-lined avenue of Omotesando, in front of the Harajuku Station building...
Botan's mind flashbacked during the time when the resurrected souls of the Meikai gods run amok in Tokyo. Disturbingly, the neon-pink waves of negative energy that Yakumo produced was quite reminiscent of the energy that the Onmyouji fired off before Kenshin sliced it apart with the Demon Sword.
Once a more reserved and less shiny Kenshin landed back on Omotesando Avenue's streets... the explosion from the Onmyouji puppet's prematurely released ball of sliced jaki obliterating a good portion of the JR East Harajuko train station building's roof... he turned and espied the oriental familiar's floating, dismembered forearms produce moist, teratoma-like protrusions that merged, swelled, blistered, and mutated into a newly born, bulbous shikigami (natty rags included).
"Give up and let these people go. It's plain to see that you don't stand a chance against me." The splinter in Kenshin's mind gave way to him manifesting the specter of Battousai the Manslayer... the dark side of the redhead that made the Meiji Restoration and Ishin Shishi victory possible. Just a step beyond that was this other entity... Battousai the Demon-Slayer... whom Hajime Saito tried to covet and whom the merged, jacked-up Hiruma brothers could do nothing against.
"Maybe not me, but my lord can definitely handle you. In fact, several people from the Shin Ju the Dai Shin Kan can easily dispatch of you, seeing how inconsistent your power level is." In acknowledgement to his words, the shikigami teleported away from the awakened Battousai and reappeared at a safer distance. Meanwhile, his master, the Onmyouji, got ready to suffuse him with the Overfiend's physics-defying, reality-bending energy and utilize him for optimum benefit.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but it's strange how you're admitting that I'm not even at full power yet."
Just like with his fatal, final fight with Makoto Shishio, Kenshin's kenki rose to phenomenal heights, which made the surrounding trees' leaves split and pop by an unseen paranormal force, compelled the flaming jaki aura that surrounded the Onmyouji's shikigami to flicker like a lighted candle amidst a winter gale, and woke about ten more people from the binding spell, which Botan ushered away to a safer place.
"I don't understand. This is going way too far for a publicity stunt!"
"Well, so much for my date. Fuck you, grim-reaper man!"
"Mommy? Please make mommy wake up, miss!"
"What is that thing? Who are you people supposed to be?"
"Hasn't it occurred to you that maybe it's best to let sleeping dogs lie? Even Koenma Daio had enough common sense to know that waking up the Youkiri Battousai is a really bad idea." To himself, Battousai reckoned, 'There's a silver lining in this nimbus cloud. One way or another, I may yet find out more about my history as the Youkiri Battousai.'
Within Botan's psyche, Kaoru queried as they resumed neutralizing the Kanashibari-powered kekkai that sealed all of them in one spot, 'How many times have Kenshin changed into the Battousai while you were with him? I saw some of your memories from three weeks ago; it looked like he flip-flops from being Kenshin the Wanderer to Battousai the Slasher a lot more nowadays than when he was still alive. Also, who's this Youkiri Battousai? So there's Kenshin, the Hitokiri Battousai, and the Youkiri Battousai now? He has more people in him than you do! Wait, that didn't sound right...'
'I don't know about that. Two weeks ago, I was wondering why you were so against Kenshin transforming into his Battousai mode. I mean, when he's the Battousai, he gets things done faster, he defeats his enemies in one or two strikes, and he's unstoppable to boot! What's not to like?' Botan conversed as she misremembered what conspired all this time.
'It's not that... I hate Battousai or anything. He's an intrinsic part of who Kenshin is. However, he also represents the darkness that lies within everyone's hearts,' Kaoru tried the best that she could to explain while scenes from Kenshin's battle against Hajime Saito replayed itself in her subconscious.
'I wouldn't be so averse to Battousai if only he didn't corrupt the humanity that also defined Kenshin's character. Kenshin is no Saito Hajime; killing and brute force aren't the answers for him. In effect, every time he becomes Battousai, a part of him dies.'
Afterwards, once the last pieces of leaves split by Kenshin's enormous wave of sword-ki fell to the ground, the battle between the Chojin's conduit and the spirit guardian recommenced. The redhead intentionally drew the shikigami's rapid-fire, scattershot jaki bullets away from the crowd using his signature Shinsoku afterimage technique before landing at what he deemed as his enemy's blind spot and executing a perfect double battoujutsu slash.
Unfortunately, the Onmyouji's shikigami morphed his hand the same way Toguro Ani would into a long scythe attached to alien outgrowths glazed with viscous film and reeking of festering death in the darkest stygian abyss of the depravity of the soul... or at least within a few yards from it.
"I'm the conduit of the power for my lord, the Overfiend. Even if this body is just that of a marionette and I myself am merely serving the whims of my master, the horrifying power of the Chojin remains quite real. Fight me, and have a taste of the unlimited power of the Living Sin himself; a legend against a legend."
The ensuing sword-to-scythe clash sparked into a torrent of variegated fire, while the follow-up bone-crushing swipe from Battousai's sheath was defused by a buckshot of sizzling ionized gas, the resulting blast of shrapnel-like plasma flinging the swordsman away from the supercharged Chojin minion.
'I'm sure I'm not seeing things! That's definitely Yakumo's technique! Or lack of one; that asshole just fired off as much jaki into the vicinity of his opponent like an angry redneck would with a shotgun!' Botan surmised, which led Kaoru to ask, 'So what? What's so important about this Yakumo guy?'
And so, after Botan showed Kaoru her memories of the Meikai's revival and invasion, the latter understood the implications of Yakumo's presence.
'Even without the Nether World Crystal, he had the power to turn the bluest sky gray, make it rain whenever he wanted to, and force the Sanzu River to overflow. After he got a hold of the sphere that contained the cosmic energies of the Demon World's equivalent to the Spirit World, he built a castle out of thin air and was prepared to transform the rest of the Human World into his long-dead kingdom. Could Yakumo be the Chojin?'
'I'm not sure,' said a voice in Botan's head; she and Kaoru became so well-synchronized that she could not tell if it was her own or Kaoru's words at that point. 'It could be him, it could be a resurrected Sensui, it could be someone else entirely, and it could be a complete stranger. I have no idea, but whoever harnesses the power of this mortal realm's sins and suffering can do whatever he wants. However, we won't let him.'
For the second time, the shikigami tossed a gigantic ball of negative force that he preemptively sliced open and turned into a downpour of anomalous spiritual power. As per usual, Battousai dodged the bullets while deflecting the others that neared Botan and the remaining crowd.
Nonetheless, the super-powered Onmyouji was a step ahead of the purported manslayer, teleporting in front of the redheaded afterimages and slashing the real McCoy among them.
"The Chojin is unstoppable! He's only using a fraction of his full potential, and yet you can barely keep up, Battousai! Oh, how the mighty has fallen; I expected more than this from the last man whom Shishio-sama conquered. Is this the best that you can do? Then give up. There's no point in resisting; the Chojin knows your fears."
Back in Shibuya, inside the empty building where the Nalanda Shop used to be...
In classic Kuwabara fashion, Shizuru didn't go down without a fight. Although she lacked the battle experience of her brother, her years as a high school delinquent and her own strong survival instincts taught her enough self-defense basics to at least keep her attacker at bay, elbow his jaw, scratch his sore eye, bite off an ear, and rip off a tuft of his hair.
To Shizuru's horror, her efforts at resisting and escaping seemed to spur her assailant even more, his nose flaring, his bloodied mouth quivering, and his exposed eye wide with an emotion that she didn't want to identify. She went down in a boneless, wriggling heap after the man slammed his sword into her ribs then backhanded her into a corner.
From there, she had no choice but to cover herself up in a fetal position while her aggressor wailed on her, called her all sorts of nasty names, and mentioned something about retribution for what her brother did to him.
'That's funny. I've just squished a couple of people like bugs with this bokuto, and I even broke a few honest-to-goodness steel swords here and there with its awesome might. However, when I used it against this Kuwabara bitch, it acts just like an ordinary piece of wood.'
The man known by his fellow former tournament fighters and allies as Musashi Burashi tested the powers of his practice sword on a nearby wall to see if it had lost any of its potency after breaking apart the Nalanda Shop's connection to the mortal realm. To his puzzlement, one swing of his weapon caused the entire pile of debris to turn into a fine cloud of dust.
'Well, once I'm through with her, she'd be begging me to rip her apart with a real sword anyway. Speaking of ripping her apart with a sword...' Burashi grinned and licked his lips. 'Maybe if I can go through with this, then I too can gain the same incredible strength that Xinhai-sama has! He told me that this was what it takes. That'd be so awesome, and it even has added perks...!'
Sweating like a pig, Burashi eased himself off of his kimono, grabbing hold of the revolted yet half-conscious Shizuru's hand and shoving it right into his hakama-covered crotch. "There, there. I'll stop beating you up to a fine pulp if you can make me feel good, baby."
It was at that moment that Shizuru gripped the nearest thing she could grab and wrenched it around with a hard one-eighty-degree twist.
"YEOWCH!"
Shizuru held onto her stalker's family jewels for dear life... something she'd rather not do, but she really didn't have any other choice... twisting and turning them in every which way so as to keep Musashi from doing horrible, unspeakable things to her that she'd rather not dwell upon. Eventually, she took her hand out of the man's trousers and wiped it off on his contorted face in absolute disgust.
She was about ready to exit the condemned building when the surprisingly resilient Burashi grabbed hold of her leg and made her trip back down the rubble-strewn floor, which caused her to scrape her elbow and bruise her knee. "This is the first time I've ever seen a woman like you! You're so wild and untamed! I think I'm turned on..."
"FUCK YOU!" Shizuru cursed in actual English as she demonstrated to the raven-haired, Jubei Yagyu impersonator that she, unlike her brother, wasn't averse to kicking a guy in the sensitive area while he was down. She then recoiled in further horror after she heard him say, "Yeah, I wish you would too."
Back in the middle of the demolished Yoyogi Park, which was mostly devastated not because of an epic battle between the superhuman forces of good and evil, but because Sanosuke Sagara had the sense of direction of a blind dog with a cold, a broken compass, and teleportation abilities...
"Don't use my name like we're buddies or anything, you motherfucker; to you, you can call me Zanza the Street Fighter," Sanosuke croaked, yawned, and had a good stretch while hanging from the beefy, two-armed grip of a pissed-off Kibano Getsuno.
The thinner man then tried to blindside his opponent with a headbutt to the nose, but the martial arts expert proved his mettle by coming up with a headbutt of his own. A reverberating clank traveled through the treeless portion of the park as the resurrected, leather-clad soul blanked out for a fraction of a second.
The migraine that followed on Sano's part would've downed an ox; on the bright side, he'd now gotten out of the muscular stranger's stranglehold. "I admit, that was pretty badass. I can respect any man that can go toe-to-toe against me. Then again, I don't have a quarrel with you. What the fuck is your problem, Green-Haired Jesus... CHRIST! Where the fuck did that goofy helmet come from?"
Kibano ignored the revived man's insistence in calling him a name that would've been sacrilegious for any nearby devout Christians to hear as he adjusted his chrome dome equipment that manifested as soon as he was a paper width's away from smacking Sanosuke's head. "I heard from the Chojin's sycophant Onmyouji that you were the closest one of the Demon Sword guardian's companions that had a fighting style resembling Urameshi Yusuke's. I want to defeat you first before I go on and have a rematch against the so-called 'mazoku' descendant."
Sanosuke's mouth trembled with a hesitant, withheld smile as he said, "First off, who the fuck is Urameshi Yusuke?" Yes, Sano had come to the point where he honestly believed that "Kyosuke Urataka" was Yusuke Urameshi's name after mispronouncing it in his head for so long. "Second off, you're not addressing the more pressing matter here: What's up with that dorky headdress and why the fuck are you wearing it? It's blocking your vision, come to think of it. Are you kidding me?"
Unmoved by his opponent's mockery of his specialized tool, the bearded and masked fighter fell into a standard karate stance. "Attack me now and find out, Zanza the Street Fighter." Getsuno felt a change in his not-quite-mortal opponent's battle aura and spirit energy; had he not intentionally blocked his eyesight, he would've been surprised to see Sanosuke change from his all-leather outfit to his standard, nineteenth-century garments.
Sanosuke grunted in frustration, still believing that Kenshin Himura was just around the corner, but the mention of the Chojin's name settled things for him. He cracked his knuckles. "Fine, but if you die, don't you dare go haunting me back with your ghost just to whine about it!"
In Sanosuke's extensive street-fighting experience, the best way to go about apprehending people who've trained in karate was overwhelming force. Granted, in his point of view, overwhelming force was his solution to everything regardless of fighting style, but karate was particularly vulnerable to this tactic because it mainly depended on precise punches, kicks, and chops. There was no way precision could be maintained in the face of ruthless aggression and stinging combinations.
Ergo, he was astonished to see Kibano redirect his punches and kicks to the point of utter aggravation. He couldn't get any significant leverage to hit the martial artist cleanly, his attacks were mostly deflected, and his joints were strained to nearly the point of breaking. Sanosuke didn't even have the opportunity to throw a Futae no Kiwami in the middle of his barrage of punches because of his opponent's turtle-shell defense.
However, instead of changing his overly aggressive technique, the former Sekihoutai member intensified his assault without regard for the very real danger of punching himself out in pure exhaustion. He aimed his punches directly at the hard blocks and added feints to his repertoire in order to keep the B-class human guessing. He even invited the fighter to counter so that he could aim a punch at him at the same time.
Just as instinctively, Getsuno transitioned from aikido-based deflection techniques to a judo-based throw that flung Sanosuke to the ground. Even as the former Zanza did a kip-up to put him back into a vertical base, the long-haired, helmeted martial arts expert caught one of his legs and slammed him over and over again in an endless loop of throws with the intention of doing so until the seized limb got torn off from the ridiculous amount of stress it suffered.
"You call me Jesus because of my hair and beard. Well, it looks like I'm practically your lord and god right now, when everything is said and done. Bow down before me and change religions, Zanza; I am your Jesus now!" Kibano avowed before placing his victim in an armbar.
Back at the entryway to the Meiji Shrine, right beside the flaming, busted-up remains of the Tori Gate...
"Imitation Technique: RYU TSUI SEN!"
And so Kazemaru Fuwan beheld Yahiko as he fell down from heaven like lightning. The bald ninja managed to throw about two or three shuriken bombs... which the reckless teenager allowed to explode upon the thick surface of the sakaba sword's spine without regard for immolation or dismemberment risks... before he got hit right on his manji-tattooed head with the force of a speeding car, his body crumpling down on the ground in a mangled mound as he questioned the turn of events in his fading consciousness.
'I don't understand... He's supposed to be a defensive fighter who draws out battles while punishing the aggression of his foes! Why...?'
Whenever Yahiko rebutted a debate, his logical fallacy of argumentum ad iurgum (i.e., using physical force as an argument) proved quite effective, although rudimentary. "If that's your idea of a 'trap', then it looks like I've deceived the deceiver. Some ninja you turned out to be."
"I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY A MERE BOY AGAIN!" Kazemaru shouted as he ignored the cacophony of suffering that wracked his broken body after getting a face-full of sakabatou, but he only got another hit to the noggin care of the reverse blade's handle and a squashing blow to this side for all his trouble.
"...Uh, yeah. You're sharing a little too much information there," Yahiko assessed as he dropped his ninja assassin down with a Tsuka no Gedan: Hiza Hijiki.
'Come to think of it, there isn't an acrobatic bone in his Reikai-issued body! How was he able to make that impossible jump without a trampoline? Leaping at an explosion won't make you jump higher, it'll blow your legs off instead.' Fighting through his splitting headache, Kazemaru became quite aware of a couple of other important issues; his head and body weren't sliced in half care of Yahiko's blade, and swords weren't exactly renowned for their blunt force.
The beaten ninja's vision focused just as soon as Yahiko sheathed his weapon... a reversed-edged sword contained within a metal scabbard. "You're making a big mistake, kid. You should've used that weird weapon of yours like a scythe or scimitar on my head and split it like a melon. You should've finished me off." The last sentence he uttered made him think.
Yahiko harrumphed. "Kamiya Kasshin Ryu is a non-killing kendo school. It upholds the principles of the Sword that Protects. Also, even if I did use the technique of a more violent school against you, I've still been sworn to not kill you regardless in respect to the original owner of this reverse-edged sword I've inherited."
"What kind of fucked-up, comic-book nonsense is that? You follow a non-killing code and have a sword that can't cut anybody when used normally? AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO CALL ME A NINJA WANNABE? Screw you, kid. Screw you to hell." An onrush of high-pressure blood traveled towards Fuwan's bald head and made it seemingly balloon as he gnashed his teeth, saw red, and threw a handful of ninja stars at his enemy's face.
Without blinking, Yahiko caught all the shuriken coming at him with his bare left hand. "That's enough, Fuwan Kazemaru. You've already lost."
"On the contrary," Kazemaru hissed as he blasted his Reiki Ho at the Myojin Patriarch's hand and detonated his bombs, "the battle has just begun."
The boy screeched as his hand and face let loose multiple streams of blood; thankfully, the explosion didn't amputate his fingers then and there, but for all intents and purposes, he was fighting with just one hand now.
"Let's see you catch these shuriken this time around, Tokyo Samurai Myojin Yahiko!" the man with the manji symbol on his forehead growled, his tattoo shimmering with the redness of a bleeding scar containing fluorescent blood.
Because of his disabled hand and despite his healthy hand that wielded Kenshin's vagabond sword, Yahiko had no choice but to bob, weave, and dodge the projectiles the best he could without the added aid of supersonic speed or inhuman endurance. However, he soon figured out Fuwan's plans after seeing the flying ninja star bombs unerringly home in on his location.
'Homing projectiles! No wonder that ninja imposter blasted my hand; my shirahadori was seriously neutralizing the effectiveness of his modus operandi.' Yahiko picked up a wayward branch with his sword and threw it at the approaching throwing items, but Kazemaru both blasted the branch and Yahiko with his Spirit Energy Cannon.
Fuwan threw more shuriken at Yahiko for good measure, trapping the boy in what promised to be a messy, gory, and explosive death. 'Let's see you get out of this predicament. Show me that your twenty-foot leap wasn't a fluke!'
"Revisal Technique: DOU GAMI!" Yahiko proclaimed as he grabbed hold of the sakabatou with both hands, fought through the pain by biting his lip, and smashed his sword on the ground so hard that he made a crater and used the ensuing shockwave to pole-vault into the air in what he called as, "Revisal Technique: TEN GAMI!"
'The Earth God and the Heaven God, huh? Now I know your secrets,' the ninja gleefully evaluated as he produced even more ninja stars to throw at the soaring teenaged soul thanks to his magical suit that provided an endless supply of his favorite ninjutsu item. 'Let me show you who's the real faker in this fight!'
"Imitation Technique: RYU TSUI SEN!"
Kazemaru threw his ninja stars in every which direction and at every angle simply because they'd home in on Yahiko anyway. To the spiky-haired boy's credit, he knew how to maneuver himself even while falling from a great height.
At any rate, Fuwan waited until the very last moment to sidestep and drop his shuriken at the area where Yahiko was supposed to strike him down. The explosion had enough force to throw the boy in the air again, but this time he had no control of his flight.
"REIKI HO!" The ninja unleashed a comet-sized Spirit Energy Cannon that crashed right into the unprepared boy with the impact of a freight train, which then sent him careening into the inner sanctum of the Meiji Shrine and creating a trench deep enough for World War II soldiers to hide in.
"You want to know the real reason why I joined the Chojin's forces even though they're out to put an end to the Human World's existence? It wasn't the endless supply of shuriken bombs or the ability to instantly heal from most any wounds that attracted me to the organization," Fuwan conversationally explained to the barely conscious Yahiko as he arbitrarily threw his shuriken into the air and let their homing capabilities sort things out.
"It's the promise of leveling the playing field. I was beaten to a pulp by some snot-nosed kid despite all my experience and training because he had all the luck. He was the chosen one. He got Genkai's Spirit Light Wave Gem. He also has demon blood, by the way. Then I heard that Rando had recently crippled him, and Rando is two levels weaker than him. We hard workers won't tolerate any of that natural talent bullshit any longer!"
Back in the broad, tree-lined avenue of Omotesando, in front of the Harajuku Station building...
The ex-hitokiri was able to backpedal in time, so he received a painful gash instead of an outright laceration. However, that proved to be the wrong decision because the flaming rain of plasma-based death from above was still there. That, coupled with the Onmyouji's pointblank surge of jaki that exited from the palm of his hand like miniature missiles, left the Legendary Battousai in dire straits and indescribable pain.
As per usual with his personality, Kenshin looked at the bright side of things and thought that at least he didn't share an emphatic bond with Botan and Kaoru the same way he did with Yusuke. 'Wait... Did he just say Shishio-sama...?'
The shikigami barely teleported in time after the former manslayer, in the middle of rebounding on the ground, disappeared then reappeared in the sky and unleashed a barrage of randomly hitting Dragon Nest Flashes that would've torn it apart faster than it could heal.
In a conversational tone as he slowly but surely ripped through the Battousai's superhuman Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu with the Chojin's supernatural powers, the Onmyouji said, "Although Japan is doing well for itself nowadays, it has in fact become the West's pet poodle ever since the end of the Second World War and its reemergence as a superpower. Japan was forced to whore itself out to the West, thus proving that in the cultural conflict between the idealistic hope for a utopian future and the cruel realities of modern politics, the latter has won out."
Kenshin compensated for the Onmyouji's arsenal of long-range attacks by launching Dou Ryu Sen landslides at the nearest blasts; however, the fact that the shikigami could fly proved troublesome.
"Indeed, Japan is more than willing to bully weaker countries in order to get what it wants. Ask any Korean, Chinese, or the hundreds of 'Comfort Women' of World War II about the lengths that this country has gone through in order to prove Shishio-sama right."
Not wanting to let the Onmyouji's vessel bombard him with Shishio-based propaganda and issues he had no knowledge of, Kenshin questioned, "Just who exactly are you, Onmyouji? What is your connection with Shishio Makoto? How did you end up in the service of the Overfiend? Why is it so important for you to rationalize that Shishio had won, when clearly time itself had decided he was obsolete?"
"TIME HAS NOT CHOSEN AGAINST SHISHIO-SAMA!" the usually kowtowed slave of the Chojin uttered in a rare display of pure rage, which allowed him to synthesize a seeming fireworks display of multicolored missiles. This forced Kenshin to use a slab of sidewalk as an impromptu shield so that none of the Kanashibari-frozen people would serve as collateral damage for the projectiles.
"In fact, because of Japan's plans for an East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, I daresay that time has instead proven Lord Shishio correct. Do you want a history lesson, Battousai? I'll gladly give you one."
"No, thank you. I'll settle for destroying your puppet and getting all these people free instead, if you don't mind," Kenshin replied, his eyes darting back and forth the thrashed and wreckage-ridden landscape for a way to end the battle then and there.
Unheeded, the Onmyouji continued his unprivileged speech while battling the Hitokiri Battousai at the same time; not an easy feat, but he felt inspired enough by the subject of his unsolicited lecture to make it work.
"I think I understand why the full implications of your ultimate failure haven't dawned on you yet. You have no idea what really happened after you died, right? You simply couldn't relate. Well, then... Let's start at the beginning."
To Kenshin's chagrin, the Onmyouji's shikigami had already resorted to abusing its teleportation powers while only launching a volley of purple plasma waves or unleashing the scythe to vary its attacks.
"It's not only Shishio-sama who believes in Nature's Law of Survival of the Fittest. This entire country does too, and so does the rest of the world. You're the one who's mistaken, I'm afraid," the Onmyouji continued while engaging Battousai in a contest of who got to the passersby first.
To the Onmyouji's chagrin, every time his shikigami teleported anywhere near innocent bystanders, the Battousai would immediately end up there alongside it, as though the spirit guardian had teleportation abilities himself.
"You fought so that the Meiji Era could be spared from Shishio-sama's ambition. You naively believed that the next generation doesn't need to take up the killing sword any longer. If only it were that simple."
Because of how hard it was to land clean, crippling strikes against the Onmyouji... much less "fatal" ones that would end the entire ordeal and save the lives of many... the redhead was quickly reminded of his fight against the Hiruma Brothers, which led him to conclude that the Chojin was in control during both times, serving as the ultimate puppet master for even the puppet of another puppet master.
"Your precious Meiji Government preyed upon the weaknesses of its neighboring countries the same way Shishio-sama would. It was a damn shame that you didn't live long enough to see Japan conquer the island of Formosa from the Chinese and extort humongous monetary compensation from its humiliated opponent. From there, Japan went to war with Russia in order to control Korea. You should've seen the Meiji end what Toyotomi Hideyoshi started because of the greed of the power-hungry people you helped put into power, Battousai."
After forcing the ex-hitokiri into a building corner with a slash and a blast, the Onmyouji followed through by teleporting right in front of his hapless, diminutive opponent and hacking at him with what seemed like a million slashes care of his mantis-like claw. Kenshin countered with the Ryu Sou Sen, but that was exactly what the shikigami intended for him to do as endless fiery sparks showered the two combatants.
"The Empire of Japan proved that it was worthy of being called a world power, making both the weaker Koreans and Russians into its food of sorts, annexing Korea in 1910, ruling with an iron fist for the next thirty-five years, and ushering forth a brand new era of militarization and self-sacrifice. The generation after ours... the one that fought the Russo-Japanese war... was taught in their schools to unquestionably sacrifice themselves for the nation if an emergency were to arise... just like Shishio-sama's ice-cold killer, Seta Soujiro, before you corrupted his beliefs and brainwashed him with your lies."
The number of nicks and bruises that Kenshin's body suffered increased ever so slightly as the Onmyouji's tireless shikigami closed in on his prey inch-by-inch, strike-by-strike. Every time Battousai attempted to end the infinite combo with a Dou Ryu Sen, the dark priest countered with jaki bullets; after the dust cleared, the undead familiar recommenced the onslaught in a protracted battle of intestinal fortitude.
"Even the recently ended Showa Era demonstrated that ruthlessness was needed in order to survive in this world... or at least the importance of knowing your place if you're not strong enough to rule. They betrayed your ideals during the Second World War, wherein Japan became one of the leading vanguards of the event along with Nazi Germany. The fury of the armies of the Rising Sun marched from Manchuria... a mineral-rich area just north of China... to China itself and most of Southeast Asia. Even the United States' navy was crippled thanks to Japan's preemptive strike on Pearl Harbor."
The coup de grace assault that turned Kenshin into a sitting duck happened just as soon as the Onmyouji made his shikigami feint a scythe attack at Botan, only to whip his blade right back at the distracted ex-rurouni in order to slice right through his left calf.
"Here is the crux of the matter, Battousai. Shishio-sama's ideals have ultimately come to fruition as reality even though you'd managed to sacrifice yourself in order to destroy Shishio-sama in your final duel. Modern-Day Japan as you see now was founded upon the lofty, Darwinian ideals that Shishio-sama cultivated and experienced firsthand."
The Onmyouji controlling the shikigami couldn't help but cackle in delight at the turn of events. As the great and wise Chojin predicted, Battousai was making all sorts of stupid mistakes because of the little history lesson that the sinister manservant was imparting. There was no escape.
"The Empire of Japan sought power and control of Asia while bathing in the sea of blood, tears, and suffering of its neighbors. However, by the time 1945 rolled along, the Land of the Rising Sun learned that it too was susceptible to the terrible and unforgiving laws of nature."
Nonetheless, even as the rapidly tiring Kenshin fought against another blitzkrieg of scythe slashes, a blocked memory from long ago had started surfacing from within the murky depths of his consciousness... a memory involving Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to be exact.
Back in Shibuya, inside the empty building where the Nalanda Shop used to be...
In a fit of rage and fear, Shizuru stomped at Musashi's private parts even harder, but to her horror, the eye-patched kendo practitioner moaned and licked his lips at every last kick as though all her efforts at containing his flaming desire was for naught.
"I can't feel 'it' anymore... but the vibrations are making me think dirty thoughts!"
During one of Shizuru's bouts of revulsion and hesitation, the Chojin's human minion cracked the bokuto right on the girl's left foot, which caused it to twist at an odd angle.
The topless Musashi got up, slashed at the ceiling that hung over the open entrance, and made it collapse into a heap of rubble, plaster, and wood before his uncovered eye wandered at the sprawling, crying Shizuru while she nursed her broken foot.
Musashi spat out the bits of teeth he lost after Shizuru made him eat a concrete block, his broken smile missing a couple of molars. "I want to overpower you and make you mine. I want to make you scream with pain and then moan with ecstasy. I want to make you love me."
"How romantic, you goddamned pervert!" In desperation, Shizuru threw another rock at Burashi... which he busted into bits with his sword... before making a break for the nearest window. Unfortunately, in her weakened, panicked state, the durable samurai caught up with her and tortured her further with strikes that felt even stronger and more agonizing than before.
"Romance? Don't be absurd. This... method I'm trying out is the same method that a swordsman just like myself utilized to reach the higher echelons of the Chojin's organization and become one of its top generals. He too was humiliated by a superior warrior that pointed out to him how much of an inferior charlatan and pretender he was. So he changed himself and moved on to bigger and better things."
She crawled away on all fours as fast as she could while she endured the never-ending torrent of whacks from Musashi's sword-stick, not caring at all for the mortification she suffered from being spanked from the same position earlier. However, her torturer dragged her all the way back to the corner of the room in order for her to be tormented some more.
"He learned more about the reality of the human condition. Like a religious figure, he had an epiphany. They're nothing new, but his findings helped him secure a life of hedonistic excess. He discovered the truth behind mankind's sins and suffering: It's an untapped resource of power. It's crazy, but he's absolutely right! He's now a manifestation of his own discovery!"
Shizuru, while scrambling blindly for something to use against Burashi, found her torn belt earlier. She stood, limping because of her broken foot, and whipped her attacker in order to keep him at bay. Despite the look of expectation within his one exposed eye, she was able to force her nausea in check and whip him with all her might while avoiding the slashes that didn't land directly on her body because for some reason, the wooden sword could cut through concrete and produce flesh-tearing rubble even though it couldn't damage her with the same amount of force.
"Buddha had it all wrong. Letting go of your worldly connections in order to move beyond human suffering isn't the secret to enlightenment or happiness; taking advantage of the suffering of others in a fit of schadenfraude is. Instead of becoming a victim, you should be the victimizer, or even use your suffering to your advantage."
Afterwards, Shizuru's luck ran out as she mistakenly avoided a bokken strike that would've hurt a lot less had she let it hit her body. The resulting explosion of rock shards tore the rest of her pantsuit apart, exposing not only flesh but bits of Spirit World money that somehow ended up all over her limbs. In her mind, she comprehended, 'It's these magical paper bills that kept that infernal wooden sword from making me end up like those poor people outside the street.'
Like a shark who'd just smelled blood in the water, the slavering Musashi jumped atop the luckless, half-naked young woman as he stole the belt she wielded, tied it around her neck, pushed her facedown the floor, and began ripping apart what was left of her clothes, not at all minding the acid-like reaction his skin had to the holy, ward-like Reikai yen.
"I want you to hate me. Hate me more and more, Kuwabara Shizuru. I want you tied up in some basement where you will be mine forever. I want you to be my slave, where you will service me until every last bit of your dignity and humanity is spent. Then, once you realize that you can't live without my support, you will learn to love me and long for me, and I'll be the one discarding you and calling you a slut. Afterwards, I'll become a powerful man myself through your perverse love and broken spirit."
Another belated realization struck Shizuru at that moment while Burashi's grubby hands grabbed her all over and she held onto the paper bill bearing Koenma Daio's peace-sign-waving portrait. The insane story that her stalker told her explained why her dear friend, Keiko Yukimura, was in a coma at the moment. Just as Seiryu used Keiko to make himself strong enough to do some stupid copycat technique of the Kokuryuha at the near cost of a human life, so would this depraved psychopath use her trauma in his hands to achieve power beyond his wildest dreams.
Back in the middle of the demolished Yoyogi Park...
For the first time since their fight started, Kibano Getsuno got hit cleanly by Sanosuke Sagara... specifically, it was a teeth-loosening punch to the jaw. However, his helmet... which he wore in order to block his sight and let his instincts automatically adjust to any assault thrown at him... also doubled as a shock-absorbing protection for head injury. Besides which, the pain of the armbar should be able to make the thinner man submit sooner or later, so there was nothing for him to be worried about.
"I don't fear your left arm as much as your right. Like a boxer, all you know how to do is punch; no, you're not even that good of a boxer. You're just a one-handed brawler that knows how to kick occasionally. There's nothing you can do to me that I'm afraid of."
'So why are you so happy?' was the footnote remark that Kibano wasn't able to deliver as Sanosuke screamed, sweated, and writhed in agony because of the excruciating pressure of the armbar, yet still had a self-assured smirk that prompted the long-haired man to twist the street fighter's wrist even harder.
"I won't be beaten by a man whose only reason to fight is to fight! I'd sooner fucking die than let a small-minded, Jesus-looking hobo like you get the better of me!" Sanosuke screamed as he attempted to grab his wrist and pull it to the opposite side of Getsuno to loosen the grip. Fully anticipating this move, the bigger warrior rolled along with Sano's attempt at escape in order to keep the armbar locked in place, his legs firmly placed around his opponent's shoulder.
"So why do you fight? Do you want to protect the innocent? Destroy all evil? Become a symbol of justice and truth? Bullshit. You fight because you love to fight. There are no ifs or buts around that. Stop being the pot that calls the kettle black and face facts!"
Sano rolled back to their original position earlier in order to try out a different tactic, which amazed Kibano; the artificial bodies that the Reikai provided to long-dead spirits probably had godly rotator cuffs as well as unbelievable bicep and pectoral strength.
Sanosuke couldn't do any worthwhile kicks from his compromised state, while his lone clean hit probably wouldn't happen again because Getsuno now tucked his chin right into his shoulder. "You know I'm right and you know I'm better than you. Give up this charade and face facts; you've lost, Zanza."
Grabbing Kibano's feet to keep him from rolling along with him, Sanosuke revealed, "You fucking asshole! I fight because even though I can't for the life of me relate to this strange, alien world of the future, Captain Sagara and the Sekihoutai would've been glad to see that there's still a Japan to speak of nowadays! This is the new era that we shed our blood, tears, and sweat for to achieve, and I'm not going to let a dumbass like you who only fights for shits and giggles to ruin things for this fashion-challenged generation! FUCK THAT!"
Before Getsuno realized what was happening, Sano used the feet grab to pivot himself parallel to his opponent while turning his elbow up and rolling to the left, then pushed his knees right inside the helmeted jack-of-all-trades' guard. 'Impossible! How did he execute that advanced jujutsu move? He doesn't know anything but brawling and striking!' the green-haired-and-bearded martial artist thought in panic as he attempted to reapply a more secure armbar.
To Kibano's continued puzzlement, Sanosuke wouldn't let go of his grip even though he was in the perfect position to escape. "Now don't let go." In true ground-and-pound fashion, the supposed brawler threw lefts from all directions, keeping his knee squarely tucked into the luckless muscular man's genitals as he avenged himself for the torture he endured earlier one punch at a time.
To Getsuno's credit, he was correct about the fact that Sanosuke's lefts weren't as devastating as his rights. However, that wasn't saying much... it was like comparing the impact of a car crash to a truck crash; the truck could produce more force, but both still hurt and were fatal, as even Yusuke Urameshi could attest to.
The long-haired hand-to-hand combat expert's jaw went agape to the point of near dislocation as Sanosuke hit him squarely on the pectoral behind the rib cage. The blow was so powerful that an imprint of the street fighter's fist was left upon his abdomen. To Sano's disgust, Kibano's mouth gurgled with spit caused by his queasiness. Also, to Getsuno's horror, his arms relinquished their grasp on the bush-haired fighter's right hand.
"Aw. You let go. Big mistake." The Futae no Kiwami hit Kibano's metal head covering so hard it might've been better to not wear it at all, the resulting shockwave of the Dual Extreme technique causing Getsuno's skull to reverberate and his brain to jolt twice over.
Back in the broad, tree-lined avenue of Omotesando, in front of the Harajuku Station building...
The occultist controlling the familiar felt a shiver at the base of his spine when, in a fraction of a millisecond, the rest of the flying bullets of purple and red blew up harmlessly in mid-flight, slashed apart in what seemed to be a simultaneous manner. Amidst the unmistakable smell of ozone in the air, Battousai did a sidelong glare at the shikigami with piercing eyes that glowed an amber sheen.
"Were you really expecting me to lose all hope by telling me facts about human nature that I've already witnessed with my own eyes? That most politicians are corrupt and self-serving? That there are evil, selfish people in this world? Spare me! RYU TSUI SEN!"
The unholy familiar didn't waste any time, teleporting right in front of its opponent and blasting him to the ground at close range. It was just about to slice Battousai's head off with its scythe when the spirit warrior did a kip-up, turned, and disappeared from its sights just as the curved blade cut deep into the rubble that the pavement had turned into.
"RYU KAN SEN!" The manslayer-cum-sword-guardian announced as he reappeared from behind the shikigami and did a spinning slash. When the oriental familiar attempted to follow its prey, it left behind its scythe-arm that was entrenched into the ground, his weaponized limb sheared right off in a clean, bloodless... or in his case, sans ichor... fashion.
The Battousai charged again, and the Onmyouji teleported away. However, by the time the entity reintegrated himself, he saw that several fingers from his remaining hand and parts of his cloaked body missing. 'He's now fast enough to cut me in between teleports?' He didn't have time to ponder too deeply about the situation though, because the afterimages of the reawakened hitokiri were all around him like a pack of wolves. For some reason, no matter how many times he shot his jaki bullets, none of them hit home.
'He's too fast! I can't keep up with his slashes, and I can't heal my shikigami anymore! I'm not even really there in Omotesando, and I can still feel the energy sapped right out of me!' the Onmyouji complained... to no one in particular, he'd probably assure the Chojin... as he saw his hapless messenger dummy get ripped apart by an unseen force with an unknowable power.
'The Youkiri Battousai is reawakening; the Battousai beyond the Hitokiri and Rurouni,' the Chojin actually bothered to telepathically point out to the Onmyouji. 'I want to have a taste of his power, but first let's give him a taste of mine.'
The shikigami mutated its remaining arm and turned it into a multi-section blade that the Chojin threw at the cross-scarred phantoms without bothering to aim. The zigzagging weapon hit all of the Kenshins simultaneously before it hit the real one with enough force to knock him back. Nevertheless, the limb was cut, diced, and shattered into pieces from the attempt.
As the true Battousai landed while gingerly holding his latest wound, the limbless specter was engulfed in unholy flames that, in minutes, separated and formed into an indescribable, multi-armed atrocity against nature that either produced pallid sorcerer hands capable of unleashing beams, waves, particles, flames, lasers, lightning bolts, bombs, and energy constructs made of impure, unadulterated sin or an unending, fleshy stream of malignant neoplasm that sprouted bony scythes, sabers, blades, spears, kali daggers, arrow heads, and whatnot.
"Why are you bothering to protect this new age that has betrayed your unrealistic ideals, Battousai? Or, to be honest, this era should be protected from the evils of your deluded idealism. Both America and Japan have become prosperous by following Shishio-sama's lead and building their economic might on the backs of the weak. Students nowadays are being pressured to work and enslave themselves for this country's sake; it's even ingrained into the Japanese culture. Don't you understand? Shishio-sama won in the end, and it's your ideals that have become obsolete."
Kenshin needed to go at top speed and use one afterimage after another in order to counteract the varying ways the transmuted, teleporting, and hydra-like shikigami could kill him. Had he still been an ordinary mortal, the Onmyouji's implements of death and multitude of superpowers would've finished him off even if he were to transform into his cold and methodical Hitokiri Battousai self. However, he was no ordinary man at that point.
"I haven't lost this fight, and you've done nothing to prove that my ideals are wrong. The only thing you've proved today is that my fight has never ended, and it's still continuing to this day, when men had long abandoned the sword and replaced it with even more efficient instruments of death."
The Onmyouji made his shikigami attack with everything it got while making a footnote to anticipate the Battousai's footwork in case he got the bright idea to try out the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki right then and there.
Instead, the sacrilegious priest saw his puppet's multiple limbs get dismembered all at the same time after Battousai unsheathed his sword, feinted a battoujutsu strike, and used the fury of the Ryu Sou Sen Garashi on the beast. "Foolish Battousai! Thanks to the Chojin's blessing, monster can heal!"
"That will prove to be its downfall. Like Shishio way back when, its time is up. And so is yours... Sadojima Houji."
The Onmyouji controlling the shikigami went speechless at last. The strain that it took to heal all of its arms had caused the mutant to uncontrollably divide its cells without fail, triggering the formation of useless teratomas and a large mass of abnormal cells that couldn't die through the process of programmed cell death needed for proper bodily function.
"Your constant abuse of your shikigami's powers... particularly regeneration... has proved to be its undoing. Like with cancer, its body cannot control the constant cell growth and division." Kenshin sheathed his blade while Botan and the rest of the crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief. The barrier that had been flickering like a broken fluorescent light all that time had at last faded into oblivion.
Even the Chojin's jaki wasn't enough to revive the worthless, cauliflower-shaped pile of noxious, aberrant, and anomalous flesh. However, for one reason or another, the mutated outgrowth of endlessly regenerating muck burst into hunks of viscera and slime, releasing a sentient negative energy miasma that divided itself into three parts and went into three different directions.
Back in the middle of the demolished Yoyogi Park...
Sanosuke was just about to go outside the park he helped level... and get hopelessly lost in the process... when his defeated opponent got up from his supine position.
"You want some more of this? Well, maybe you need to heal up inside your Overfiend's hospital or something first. Unlike Shishio Makoto, I hate beating up on crippled or weakened opponents. It makes me look like a bully."
"The only one who's going to get bullied here is you, Zanza. Can you feel that approaching comet of jaki? The Chojin has finally deemed me worthy to use that energy as my own, and I have the perfect test subject to use it on right here!" For someone who just had his pectorals bludgeoned and his head concussed, the bearded warrior with shoulder length hair looked inordinately exultant and healthy.
With his hands in his pockets, Sanosuke looked up to the sky in time to see exactly what Kibano described to him: a meteor or comet or whatever crashing right into the Jesus Christ look-alike and bursting into a miniature version of a supernova as energy was released, pressure changes occurred, supersonic deflagrations resulted in shockwaves that pushed Sano back, and the ground suddenly expanded then disintegrated into little bits of dust and debris care of all the heat and fire.
After being pushed down by the pressure waves from the plummeting ball of impure energy, the eldest son of Kamishimoemon Higashidani got up and espied Kibano Getsuno emerge from the flaming rubble and the huge crater while a bluish-violet aura of jaki surrounded him and made his hair rise and fall like it were a flaring bonfire.
"Let me guess. Your evil overlord or one of his servants has now given you superpowers that magically healed your injuries and made you ten times stronger than before."
Even a mere shrug from the supercharged version of Getsuno made the earth rumble and the surrounding flora ignite into flames. "Pretty much."
"Sweet. I can turn you into a punching bag again." Using the caveman tactic of running toward his opponent and punching him to death despite the fifty-fifty success rate he had against opponents of actual merit, Sanosuke sprinted towards the ominous-looking Kibano and his aura of flames post-haste.
However, the spiky-haired ghost with a twenty-something man's body and the slim waist of a prepubescent girl was barely five yards away from Getsuno when the latter punched forward like in a kata exercise. Afterwards, Sano found himself flung another ten yards away by an invisible force the size of a wrecking ball.
'What the hell just happened?' he reflected as he felled the last standing tree within his vicinity with a flying body tackle.
To be Continued...
Next: The inimitable power of jaki.
Yeah, I combined the anime names of Kazemaru, Musashi, and Kibano with their respective manga monikers of Fuwan, Burashi, and Getsuno. If Charlie Nash can get away with it, they can too. Oh, and the Onmyouji's speech is based upon the old Geocities essay, "Why Shishio Won". It's a great read.
Akin ang huling halakhak!
Abdiel